Semi-weekly south Kentuckian., 1887-01-21
ENGLISH spARRows.


Millions OF Descendants nom the O.Hginal
Fty Pairs.
1t Is twenty years since the English
sparrow was taken from his home in
London and turned loose in this coun-
try. Superintendent Conkl.n, who had
charge of The mcnagcr.e IN Central
Park, N. Y, liberated fifty pairs in the
summer of 1866, AMI from these nearly
all the English sparrows that can be
found in every city, village and town Of
the United States are descended.
"a have no doubt" observed NJ,
J Conklm the other day, that If any
| thing like an accurate census could te
taken OF the Engl sh sparrows in this
country to-day, there would be a PAIR OF
them for every man, woman and child
in the United States am not wholly
responsible for this ailliction, for acie |
under orders, but did not think at the
time what an afll ction they were to be-
come, nor did any one else. "
The sparrows liberated by Mr. Conk-
lin were not, however, the only ones that
were brought to the country, A month
before about a dozen pairs were set
free in Trinity church-yard, in the old
New York Hospital grounds, then in
Broadway near Rca lie street, and in
Battery Park. Several persons are
known to have Brought over a few OF
the birds afterward, but no other batch
was so numerous rs the enc brought TO
Central Park AT that time New York
City and many others were infested with
pest in the shape of small green
worms an inch long. The sparrows, it
was said, would obliterate this nui-
sance, and they did. Within five years
after the first importation, there were
little squads of English sparrows in
every side street that boasted of tree,
hunting up green worms. The spar
rows grew fat, and the green worms
have disappeared. Many people bu 1t
little houses and set them up in the
trees, about their yards for the spar
rows. The sparrows bopped into them
and took possession with perfect equa-
nimity.
Within a few years those sparrow
houses have been falling into ruin. Few
new ones are now set out, and the prac-
tice OF feeding the sparrows in the parks
have almost entirely gone out Yet
the sparrows have never been known to
complain. The green worms and their
progeny all devoured, and the free
lunches of crackers and bread crumbs
no longer forthcoming, they have phi
losophically turned their attention 10
new methods of subsistence. A few of
them continue TO enjoy the rural associ-
ations of parks and country villages, but
the greater number show marked
preference for city life. Wherever there
are human beings congregated, they find
Subsistence readily. There is enough
waste from every table to fattcn whole
family of them, and the sparrows have
become kind of street scavengers in
large towns. The later generations
seem to have increased in size in their
new country,
Mr., Conklin's estimate of the present
sparrow census as reaching the hundreds
of millions are based on the fact that
these birds breed several times in a sea-
son, frequently three times and some
times four, each time Matching out q
brood of four young sparrows. Allow
ing for all casualties, destruction ol
nests and an excessive mortality, il
would not require more than two breed
ing seasons a year, in tho twenty years
since the original fifty pairs were liber-
ated in Central Park, to bring the num-
ber of their descendants far above one
hundred million. They are daring colo
nists, and as soon as the young sparrows
find their numbers in n locality inconve-
niently large, detachment will hunt up
new foraging grounds. Their great
numbers and the real character of the
bird have changed public sentiment and
placed the sparrow on the defensive.
Within year or two the English spar
row has made his appearance in the res
taurants in the place of the reed bird,
and he has been found SO good substi-
tute that the price of reed birds has de.
clined in the market. There are, ii is
said, several persons in the city who
make business of supplying sparrows
for the market, and hundreds are eaten
daily by New Workers. The Chinese
colony have also found source of
amusement in training the sparrows for
fighting purposes. Their bills are rubbed
down with fine sand-papcr, until they
are as sharp as needles, and every
stroke draws blood and feathers. The
birds will fight as long as any brcatk
remains in them, and the profits of
whole weeks laundry business are often
staked and lost ON II single bird.
With these new dangers to combat il
is probable that the linn to the sparrow
population has been nearly reached.
The chances are that they never VIII be
extermnatcd but without check to
Their increase few years more would
probably have brought about plague
of sparf0ws as formidable rs one ol
Kansas grasshopr ers. N T. Tritane.